Insight Magazine - Winter 2022

Insight WINTER 2022

Walking faithfully into newness “Breath of God, Winds of Hope” painting by Lynn Vissers

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“THE ADVENTURE OF FOLLOWING GOD”

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“LEADING IN CHALLENGING TIMES”

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“ON CONFLICT”

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“RETURNING TO WYCLIFFE”

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“IN A CULTURE OF UNBELIEF, OBEDIENCE”

FROM THE PRINCIPAL’S PEN

Walking faithfully into newness

By The Rt Rev. Dr Stephen G. W. Andrews Dear Friends, Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16–18) It is said that at one time Rudyard Kipling was so popular his writings were getting ten shillings per word. A few irreverent college students looking for a laugh therefore sent him a letter enclosing ten shillings. It read, “Please, send us your best word.” They got back a letter from Kipling saying only, “Thanks.”

“Thanks.” It is a beautiful word in any language: Merci! Arigato! Dankeschön!

Gracias! Todah! Eucharistō! And I would go so far as to say that the most reliable measure of an individual’s true health and prosperity is the degree to which they possess a thankful spirit. Those who are bitter and full of resentment, those who are restrained in their praise and unrestrained in their criticism, are poor indeed, despite their material wealth or celebrity. But the person who cultivates a spirit of gratitude, their slim means or reasons for worry notwithstanding, demonstrates just how rich they are.

Our theme for this issue of Insight is “Walking faithfully into newness.” An essential ingredient in walking faithfully, however, is the ability to look back with gratitude. And this issue is full of gratitude—the gratitude of students who have survived hardship in their desire to follow the call of Jesus Christ upon their lives; the gratitude of alumni who harbour great hope for post-pandemic ministry; and the gratitude of faculty for divine gifts and guidance. I want to add to the list by expressing my gratitude to all who receive this publication, for I know that we would not have survived the difficulties of these last two years without your prayers and support.

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And we are not out of the woods yet.

With our eyes on enrolment and the financial markets, newness can be intimidating and gratitude is not always spontaneous.

life ever lived, God took history’s greatest tragedy and transformed it into the promise of redemption. And St Paul triumphantly affirms “this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

But St Paul does not say “give thanks for all circumstances,” but “give thanks in all circumstances.” Whatever our situation, there are grounds for gratitude. And they are manifold: they include the fact that God does not abandon us in our need; that He will be a reliable source of strength and perseverance and love; that somehow, He will weave our lives, with all of our sins and virtues, blessings and misfortunes, into the grand fabric of His purposes. And we can be certain of this because when the world was its darkest, when it looked as though wickedness would triumph over righteousness, and death would snuff out the most beautiful

This glorious hope is the source of all of our thanksgiving and the grounds of our confidence as we move into the newness of what God has in store for us. May this hope be yours as well as you count God’s blessings in the past and prepare to walk with Him into the future.

Yours in gratitude,

Stephen Andrews Principal

Faculty Profile – Professor Lissa Wray Beal

The adventure of following God

By Melissa Stratis “I want to live to give my life to God, to live the adventure of following God,” says Wycliffe’s newest faculty member, Professor of Old Testament Lissa Wray Beal.

While serving as a Pentecostal pastor in Edmonton, Lissa realised that although she felt a pull toward pastoral ministry, the call to serve the church through teaching was stronger. In the late 1990s, she left Edmonton for Toronto in faith that God was calling her to begin doctoral studies at Wycliffe. “I moved to Toronto single and very poor—I was stepping out in faith. God was very kind and provided for me. I lived in residence, which was a wise move, because I had an immediate community there.” Three years into the programme, she met her future husband, Steve, at a church Christmas party. They were married in 2000, and she defended her PhD in 2003.

At Wycliffe, Lissa welcomes the blend of training MDiv students for the church while working with doctoral students called to academic service of the church.

“It is a privilege to be teaching in my own denominational context—and so perhaps in some way contributing to the health and growth of the Anglican church,” she says. “But I’m also delighted to minister in a place where there are students from other denominations. My own student experience of this dynamic was rich.”

As we emerge from pandemic lockdowns into a new, evolving world, Lissa offers her perspective as one who

has just left her home of eighteen years to follow God’s call: “We can walk into an uncertain future with the security that we are God’s, and He knows where we are going. It can be a time of high anxiety for all of us. But we can keep asking, ‘To Whom do I belong?’ Ask for faith to be strengthened so that we can hold tight to God. And God will direct our paths. Moving in uncertainty, it’s helpful to have anchor points. For me, what anchors me in Christ is stillness and silence before the Word. This term, Morning Prayer will be another anchor before I go into a busy day.”

For the last eighteen years, Lissa invested in students at Providence Theological Seminary near Winnipeg as Professor of Old Testament and Chair of the Bible and Theology Department. “I love it when lights go on for students—the ‘aha’ moments,” she says. “They encounter something about God, see God touch their lives in a new way. These are wonderful, transformative moments. To watch that and be a part of that—that’s eternal work.”

Lissa continues to serve the church, both within parish contexts (she was ordained as an Anglican priest in 2014), and as she researches and writes in the areas of Joshua, 1 and 2 Kings, and Jeremiah.

“The strong stories of the Old Testament have always captured my imagination,” she explains. “I’ve also discovered that without the Old, we can’t truly understand the New Testament.”

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Leading in Challenging Times

By Clayton Rowe

The genesis of every faith-based organization is to minister to the specific contextual needs of people.

Over time both the context and the people change. The 2020s have given rise to a global pandemic, a cost-ofliving crisis, and new voices from the margins challenging our concepts of privilege, equity, and personal freedom.

Most leaders understand change is required but there is a lack of consensus on the depth and pace of change. Ask a leader how they are personally feeling, and you will hear deep fatigue in their responses.

From a place of weariness, it is difficult for leaders to know how to navigate change. Recently, Wycliffe’s Institute for Community Engagement created the Mission Critical Care model. It provides a quick assessment and focussed 90-day sprints. The model recommends that leaders consider six vital actions, which contribute to core organizational health and wellbeing.

• Stabilize the organization – In light

of the current context, analyse the strategy, financial statements, and fundraising efforts. Based on your analysis, what should you affirm, stop, delay, or change within the next 90 days to steady the organization?

and staff. Create space for the team to share their thoughts, feelings, concerns, and questions. Ensure staff understand the organization’s priorities and how their efforts contribute to the whole.

• Nurture Self and Sphere – Attend

• Care for the participants – Engage

your participants by listening to their changing needs and possible solutions. Discuss how you can fulfill your organizational mission by adjusting your activities and programs for the people you serve.

• Engage donors and volunteers –

Intentionally deepen your connection with those who contribute time and finances to your church or non-profit.

Do not shield donors and volunteers from current realities but invite their insights, so they can offer meaningful contributions to the work.

• Invest in the team – Purposely

encourage positive relationships and connections within your leadership

to your own needs and extend hospitality to family, friends, and neighbours near and far. The staff and volunteers who faithfully serve your church or non-profit must also prioritize their own self-care and ensure care for those in their sphere of influence.

Collect your insights from these six action areas. Prioritize your insights in what must be accomplished during the first 30 days (highest priority), then 60 days (secondary priorities) and 90 days (tertiary priorities). Note: Tackling a maximum of three new priorities in each 30-day timeframe is a good rule-ofthumb.

Once you have completed your action plan, celebrate what was accomplished.

You might find it helpful to review your assessments based on the above questions to see if you would like to prioritize another 30, 60, or 90-day sprint.

Wycliffe’s Institute for Community Engagement (ICE) serves faith-inspired leaders within organizations and churches across Canada, the United States, and around the globe. ICE provides space for reflection, learning, and collaborative support toward holistic engagement with people on the margins in enacting transformational community change.

To learn more, please visit our website at www.wycliffecollege.ca/communityengagement 4

STUDENT FOCUS:

SOLID GROUND

By Yongmei Wang One afternoon in November 2018, Suet Ming Yeong and I were visiting–it was the first time we had seen each other since 2015. Suet Ming had been doing her doctoral studies at Wycliffe.

I was pastoring a Chinese church and teaching biblical Hebrew at a seminary in Vancouver. Our meeting was supposed to be simply a chance to catch up.

Suet Ming started to tell me very excitedly about the PhD program in Old Testament studies at Wycliffe.

By the end of our meeting, I was pretty sure that I wanted to study at Wycliffe too. Four days before the first application deadline, my husband, who was in China at that time, called to offer his support. With Suet Ming’s help, I completed my application in time and in the midst of my full workload at church.

I decided to pursue doctoral studies because I believed that a good church needs to be established on the solid ground of the Word of God. I wanted to know more about the Word of God so that I might become a means by which God blesses the global Chinese church. I used to be a university teacher in China and I sensed that God was calling me back to teaching, but this time at seminary.

I’ve been fortunate to take several Bible courses with Professor Christopher Seitz and Professor Glen Taylor at Wycliffe, and learned biblical Aramaic and advanced ancient Hebrew grammar with Professor Amir Harrak and Professor Robert Holmstedt at the University of Toronto. Those studies honed my skills in biblical languages and taught me how to do research and develop independent thinking. I also had the privilege of being Professor Marion Taylor’s teaching assistant.

From her I learned how to teach the Old Testament. She set an excellent example for me in humility and being gracious to students. I appreciate the friendship of my fellow students greatly.

I trust that all of these experiences will become invaluable assets when I serve the Lord’s church and the seminary.

Yongmei Wang is a third-year PhD student in Old Testament studies. She came to know Jesus in China through an American missionary who taught her English at graduate school.

Before coming to Wycliffe, Yongmei studied at Regent College and served as a pastor at Richmond Chinese Alliance Church. She is an adjunct faculty at Canadian Chinese School of Theology Vancouver.

STUDENT FOCUS:

BRIDGING GAPS, OPENING EYES

By Isaiah Nordhagen

in my life I had been avoiding out of fear of failure—and one of those things was continuing my education.

I am somebody with a passion for both the academy and the church, but have noticed that these two worlds often struggle to “talk” to each other. I wanted to help bridge this gap through a vocation as a pastor-scholar, but felt inadequate to the task.

I had never thought of myself as someone who prized self-reliance until one day three years ago when I woke up with fever, chills, and pain in my side like I had never experienced before. For two months I struggled with an undiagnosed condition that left me completely dependent upon others—especially my wife Jen—for the first time in my life. By God’s grace it turned out that my problem was caused by a vascular malformation in my birthmark, which was treatable but left me in chronic pain for the next two years.

I had preached the Gospel of the free grace of Christ but had never really experienced it until those moments. I realized that there were some things

My health scare—and the world’s health scare which soon followed—helped me to recognize that if my goal was selfsufficiency, I would never take a risk.

But why pick up my family of five and cross a border to study in Toronto?

What attracted me to Wycliffe was the fact that I would be studying alongside other men and women pursuing pastoral ministry while also benefitting

from the riches and diversity of a world class university. I also love that Wycliffe has a stated goal to cultivate the theological interpretation of Scripture. Through my studies, I hope to open more people’s eyes to how the theological riches of the Old Testament can enhance our love of God and his Word.

Isaiah Nordhagen is a first-year PhD student in Old Testament at Wycliffe College.

Originally from Colorado, he served for the past eight years as a pastor in Aurora, Illinois. He is ordained in the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. He and his wife Jen have three young children.

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STUDENT FOCUS:

STUDENT FOCUS:

DEEPLY CALLED

A HOLISTIC PURSUIT

By Mackenzie Wolf

By Melissa Ytsma

I was a keen young adult when I entered Nipissing University to study psychology. I had been nominally raised in the Roman Catholic faith, and had little to no spiritual life or deep religious convictions, and no real desire to pursue any. I chose to take an elective course titled Religious Pilgrimage. It was in a lecture on the pilgrimage to the healing shrine in Lourdes, France that the Lord first tugged at my heart. The miraculous healing stories of Lourdes both deeply touched and intrigued me. My curiosity with Lourdes turned into a curiosity for religious practice and spirituality, and it was the spark that I needed to re-engage with worship at a Roman Catholic parish.

My journey to Wycliffe began in 2018.

It was from there that I became enamored with Christ and His promise of transformation. Slowly but surely, I started to worship and serve, and to feel like God was calling me to learn and do more.

I switched my university major to Religions & Cultures, received my Confirmation, and signed up for a summer mission trip to Namibia, Africa. God kept putting opportunities in front of me, and I kept saying, “Yes.” Toward the end of my undergraduate degree, I knew that I wanted to use my next step in life to share my newfound faith, and to learn more intentionally about serving God. A fellow classmate told me about the Master of Divinity and shared with me the Wycliffe College website. I felt deeply called to apply to Wycliffe and to pursue the MDiv, and since then God has used my time at Wycliffe to call me into the Anglican world and into a vocational discernment process for the priesthood.

Mackenzie Wolf is a third-year Master of Divinity student at Wycliffe College. She is Postulant for ordination to the Priesthood in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, and Pastoral Associate for Youth & Children at St Clement’s Church, Toronto.

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I was in full-time pastoral ministry at the time, and while I already had some theological training under my belt, I noticed some gaps in my knowledge and experience. I knew a number of people who were studying at Wycliffe, and they all spoke highly of their experience.

As one who feels called to the body of Christ in all its expressions, I was intrigued by Wycliffe being an Anglican college, a faith tradition I had yet to learn from.

I began as a part-time student and it was great to study while also pastoring, finding ample opportunities in my ministry to apply what I was learning! This past winter I transitioned into full-time studies and I’m in this new season of discerning my pastoral identity. I don’t think there could be a better place for me right now than Wycliffe College!

When I started my studies, I remember our professors speaking about how this is not simply an academic pursuit, it’s also a holistic, relational one. One where we learn through our life together as a Christian community, seeking to discern our place in God’s greater Kingdom work–not just to have the “right” theological answers for our questions. I certainly have gained a lot of theological insight while studying but it’s been some of the more on-the-ground, hands-on ministry opportunities that have brought it all to life for me! Whether it’s in a chapel service, a fellowship group, a summer internship abroad or an upcoming placement with Prison Fellowship Canada, Wycliffe is helping me discover more and more who God has created me to be and the ways I can partner with Him to serve the church. I am so grateful for this ministry and the multitude of ways it impacts the body of Christ.

Melissa grew up in the Christian Reformed Church in Ontario, served within a Presbyterian church in Amsterdam, and is currently ordained with the Be in Christ Church of Canada (formerly the Brethren in Christ). She is halfway through her Master of Divinity program and lives in Thornhill, Ontario.

Newness, encouragements and opportunities

By Amanda Ross I have not been a part of the Wycliffe community for long. My portion of our collective memory reaches back only a year. So it is with a sense of strangeness and wonder that I hear Wycliffe veterans reminiscing warmly of the old days of busy hallways, noisy mealtimes, and students walking freely into faculty offices for any manner of advice or connection. This has not been the experience for those of us who have joined this history within the last three years.

Even many of the familiar faces of this Fall 2022 semester are those that we have never before seen without the mediation of a screen or the shielding of a mask.

This is a time of sudden exposure into something akin to the good ol’ days, and yet, it is entirely new. Such newness is even more apparent to those of us who live in the Wycliffe Residence. We are a literally new community as the residence has bloomed from much less than half capacity in the last three years to nearly full today. Our population is gathered from all over the globe—not just from the U.S. and Canada but India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Denmark, and, less by choice than by necessity, from the devastating circumstances in Ukraine.

Aside from a lingering few, none of us experienced life together at Wycliffe before the extreme measures needed to persevere through the pandemic. We are embarking on an unknown venture and for many this is a strange, new world.

Certainly, this sense of newness comes with its encouragements and opportunities. We are building together a new community, restoring, we trust, a renewed sense of belonging and partnership. We have the chance to start again and are doing so with hopeful aspirations for an increasingly stronger future. Yet, as with every venture into newness, we also see the tension of embracing the new while remaining faithful to the deep current of what has always made Wycliffe what it is—an institution formed for the glory of God and the building up of vibrant leaders for the church and the world.

We are walking into newness yet doing so with faithfulness to the foundation of who we are and with dedication to the God who has called us to this task. No doubt the veterans of Wycliffe College could recount many times when our community has been called into this task of embracing newness with faithfulness.

Today, we are once more stepping into such a season. Held by the support and prayers of those who have gone before and reaching with eager hands toward all that we are called to embrace, I pray that we will engage this new season, as has always been done, with faithfulness.

Amanda Ross is the new Residence Coordinator at Wycliffe College and is beginning her PhD studies in Theology this semester after having completed her work for a ThM last year.

Harry St. Clair Hilchey Award Nominations Open Nominations are now open for the Archdeacon Harry St. Clair Hilchey Award. This award is presented to one alumnus of Wycliffe College each year who has distinguished themselves in service to the Alumni Association, Wycliffe College, and/or the church.

All nominations are to be submitted

by January 9th. Nominations will be considered by the Wycliffe College

Alumni Association Executive Committee and the award presented to the successful nominee at Convocation.

Criteria: 1) Affiliation: Nominee must be an alumnus or Honorary Alumnus of Wycliffe College. 2) Evangelical Ethos: Nominee is an outstanding example of Wycliffe College’s evangelical ethos, reflecting this in their social, professional

and/or academic circles. 3) Gospel Advocacy: Nominee has demonstrated outstanding service in the name of Jesus in social, professional, and/or academic circles. 4) Engagement with Wycliffe College and the Church: Nominee has shown strong and regular engagement in supporting Wycliffe College. Support can be defined here as spiritual, academic, and/or professional.

Please submit your nomination by filling out the form on the Wycliffe College website at www.wycliffecollege.ca/alumni/awards 7

On conflict

By Wanda Malcolm

With conflict running through the Bible, from Genesis through the New Testament, it seems that we can expect conflict to be part of our experience until the new Heavens and Earth are established (Revelation 21: 1–7). We might ask ourselves, then, why we are surprised that conflict is so often part of our experience in our churches and personal lives.

A negative view of conflict

A positive view of conflict

If conflict is both a cause and the consequence of sin, then—in our desire to be good Christians—we ought to organize ourselves around avoiding conflict, or we should at least deal with it quickly and decisively so as not to be “tainted” by such sinfulness.

A positive view sees conflict as intrinsically good and healthy because it permits us to be honest and straightforward about our thoughts and feelings. In the interests of transparency, we assume that it is best to put things on the table and deal with them, which means that we don’t hesitate to engage with one another about a difference of opinion or disagreement.

Within such a view, conflict is seen as intrinsically bad, as inevitably threatening and painful. This view often includes the assumption that when people disagree or are in opposition to one another’s ideas and plans, only one person or group can win. When we start with that assumption, we inevitably ready ourselves for a battle.

A negative view of conflict may lead us to offer conciliatory after-the-fact compromise when we win. Or, when we have the power to dictate the outcome, we may be too quick to hand down a decision, hoping to end the conflict as quickly as possible. Often this means that we have rushed to stop the conflict without making provision for the demanding work of listening to and appreciating one another’s concerns and differing views.

Paradoxically then, our very effort to make the conflict go away drives it underground and ensures that it will resurface.

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Each of us has a view of conflict that determines the way we respond to differences of opinion and situations in which we believe we are being prevented from doing what is right or necessary. Most Christians assume that God’s creative intent was one of harmony, and that any departure from peaceful coexistence is a consequence of sin.

Surprisingly, when we start with the assumption that conflict ought to be embraced and dealt with in a straightforward manner, our natural tendency is the very same as when we have a negative view, which is to ready ourselves for a battle. The difference is that we do so with enthusiasm rather than anxiety.

When two people with a positive view of conflict engage in a debate or contest of wills, they may both wade in energetically, assuming that there is nothing wrong with a lively debate or contest of wills so long as they are good sports. Underlying this enthusiasm for conflict may be an implicit belief that “might is right.” Winning feels good,

and the sense of strength and mastery that comes with winning creates an appetite for the next challenge. But being pulled into a debate or challenged to a contest of wills is excruciating for someone with a negative view of conflict.

A person with a dread of conflict may be oversensitive and quick to take offense. At the same time, they may feel compelled to engage in the conflict in the hope of winning, or at least of “getting it over with” quickly. If there is a culture of drawing other people into conflict, this is when people will start looking for a rescuer or protector to deal with the conflict for them, or for allies to join forces with them.

A neutral view of conflict In contrast to both positive and negative views of conflict, a neutral view takes for granted that conflict is bound to occur from time to time, and that it is likely to be uncomfortable or unpleasant at times, sometimes even sharply so.

This is especially likely if the issue or relationship is important. For that reason, conflict is not to be sought or escalated, nor is it to be avoided at all costs. Instead, we are best served by valuing both the outcomes of our

participation and our relationships with one another, with a willingness to hold these things in tension as we search for a creative solution.

Learning how to navigate conflict can be life-giving even when we continue to disagree about what should happen or how we should go about things. To do this successfully, we need to consider four things: perspective, self-awareness, prayerful reflection, and genuine curiosity.

Perspective Perspective is where we stand and how we look at an issue, and it determines whether our contribution will be constructive or destructive. When we invite another to join us in exploring our differing perspectives, we almost always find that there is far more going on than what we could see from where we were standing.

Self-awareness Self-awareness is a clear and accurate understanding of what we are bringing to the conflict. Ironically, the feedback we receive from one another is the mirror we need if we are to see ourselves accurately, and healthy self-awareness resides in the back and forth between how we see ourselves and how we see others seeing us.

Prayerful reflection It is only when our reflections make room for God, and we are allowing God to look in the feedback mirror with us that conflict becomes part of our spiritual journey. We need to be in conversation with God about what this or that conflict implies about ourselves.

In other words, we need to be prayerfully reflective, otherwise self-reflection just gives us tunnel vision because there is no one there to correct our misperceptions or challenge our rationalizations about

why the other person is wrong, or why they are more responsible and therefore more to blame for what happened than we are!

Friendly curiosity Practising genuine friendly curiosity doesn’t require us to agree with the other person. Instead, it is a loving stance toward dialogue that broadens our perspective and encourages us to look beyond the surface of things, creating the possibility that understanding the complexities of what is going on between us—the relational piece—is as important and as legitimate as winning the argument or having our plan implemented. Friendly curiosity also supports self-awareness because it helps us see how we are contributing to the situation without harsh self-criticism.

Valuing the limits of our perspective and cultivating self-awareness, prayerful reflection, and friendly curiosity are all crucial spiritual practices. The way we conduct ourselves when there is conflict either draws people into God’s love, or merely reduces it to idealistic foolishness.

Conflict is inevitable. We can wade in

with enthusiasm or deep anxiety, or we can engage in practices that make us increasingly available to God at work within us, allowing conflict to become part of our spiritual journey.

This article is an edited version of a sermon preached this summer by Dr. Wanda Malcolm at St. John’s Anglican Church, Eagle Lake, Ontario. Having served on Wycliffe’s faculty since 2007, most recently as Professor of Pastoral Psychology, she retires at the end of December. She looks forward to travelling and participating in volunteer ministry with her husband, and to spending more time with their children and grandchildren.

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Returning to Wycliffe

By Alex Newman They just can’t stay away.

Students who graduated several years ago are returning to Wycliffe. And it’s for a variety of reasons.

Some, like Michelle Yeung, returned to upgrade skills as a job requirement.

After graduating in 2017 with an MDiv, she became an assistant curate in the Anglican Diocese of Toronto. Advanced pastoral care was one of the diocese’s requirements for this position, so she has enrolled in the one-year Advanced Formation and Internship in Pastoral Care Ministry under Professor Wanda Malcolm.

But she couldn’t stay away, so now she’s auditing courses—this semester Stephen Chester’s on 1 Corinthians. Last fall she audited another of Chester’s courses and in the winter, one with Tom Power.

Others are back out of personal interest in the College’s rich academic offerings.

Why? “Spiritual and personal growth,” she says.

Kenneth Ma, for example, graduated with a Masters in Theological Studies in Development (MTSD) in 2014, and was hired right out of school by Partners International. There he focused on church planting and community development work in underdeveloped countries. “I was able to work in different countries and on different programs, and that really helped me understand how different the needs are in various communities.”

Apart from the changes wrought by the intervening pandemic, all three have noticed some new developments at the College. Ma, for example, says class sizes are smaller and there seem to be more mature students like him around.

Kenneth Ma

Ma says the courses he took for his Masters really gave him a solid foundation for doing his work, but “there were so many courses of interest that I didn’t have time to take.”

So, he’s come back to take what he “missed the first time around.”

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Passion for learning is also what brought Kerry Tucker back to Wycliffe this year.

Initially, she was an occasional student working toward a diploma in Christian Studies. She loved the course work so much, though, that she applied to the Master of Theological Studies (MTS) program and was accepted in 2015. By 2020, she’d completed her course work, culminating in an extended research paper for her summative exercise.

What Yeung has noted since her previous course of study is how Wycliffe is responding to cultural shifts. The

College, she says, “has created new courses to accommodate the demand of post-Christendom needs, as well as the church’s requirements for training and equipping clergy in society.”

Kerry Tucker

But for Tucker the changes were personal. After the recent deaths of two older family members, she says she came to know in a profound way how short and fragile life is. And therefore “how important the associations are that we establish or continue as we move into the last act of our lives or merely closer to the End of Days in the hopes of hearing the words, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father.’ Wycliffe College, I believe, is one of those connections that can help us receive that kind of greeting from the Lord when our time comes.”

Alumni Updates Where are they now?

This edition of Insight, we’re trying something a little different. Rather than our traditional, short-form alumni up-dates, we thought we’d bring you three, more in-depth conversations.

Don’t worry, you’ll still see the regular updates in the summer!

Let us know your thoughts on this new approach at: alumni@wycliffe.utoronto.ca.

The Reverend Shaun O’Connor (MDiv, 2001) Q: It’s been just over four years since you were installed as priest-in-charge of All Saints Bonavista, a new church plant of the Anglican Network in Canada. Three of those years were pandemic years. How did the experience of ministering through the pandemic change you?

SO: It restored me by the grace of God. I became a full rector, overseer of another church plant, and member of Diocesan Council. I am grateful that God and his Church saw me capable of serving in these roles.

Q: What has the pandemic’s impact been on your congregation?

SO: The pandemic years were actually good to us in many ways. Our congregation became a full-status ANiC parish; assisted a church plant in Gander; greatly expanded attendance at our Sunday Services, Bible Studies, and Prayer Meetings; hosted an online VBS; and increased our tithes and almsgiving. This strengthened our bonds with our Diocese and made us active members in many nation-wide events. It raised our confidence in our flexibility and creativity in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Things did not diminish for us during COVID; on the contrary, they increased.

Q: What are you feeling most hopeful about?

SO: We pray for people in our communityat-large who suffered setbacks during the pandemic, that God will “restore the years that the locusts have taken.” I am also looking forward to hosting an in-person Alpha Course.

Many questions were raised by people during the pandemic about life and about God that I hope we can explore together.

Dr. Charles Meeks (PhD, 2019) Q: Where has life, work, and ministry taken you since Wycliffe?

CM: Graduating just before a pandemic led to a challenging job market.

I continued working as a freelance editor, and began the process of discerning ordination in the Diocese of Niagara, which led to a position as coordinator of the Niagara School for Missional Leadership.

And then, after serving as an adjunct, I was recently offered a full-time teaching position at Redeemer University.

Q: How did the experience of teaching through the pandemic change you?

CM: During the pandemic, I’ve taught courses for three different institutions, and each experience has been different. The courses that were meant to be online already were the simplest; they were designed with online

pedagogy in mind. But several courses have vacillated between in-person and online, and teachers have had just as hard a time with this as have students. So the pandemic has hugely changed the way I think about modality, media, etc.

Q: What has the pandemic’s impact been on your students?

CM: Students are exhausted, spent. When I teach a graduate-level course, so many students are also working, and have been trying to navigate a changing landscape at work as well as with their own students. My undergrads can be a bit more resilient because this is their current primary vocation; but attention spans are waning. The pandemic has been a huge cultural event that has shaped them rather than simply a health-related crisis. Gen Z-ers sense that there’s so much more at stake when it comes to the ways they lead their lives. What does it mean to take seriously Christ’s calling to join his mission? How do we participate in the world politically, economically? The pandemic has laid so much of that bare, and they are responding.

Q: What are you feeling most hopeful about?

CM: I am hopeful that we will see the past several years as an opportunity to reconsider the things that truly matter at the heart of our theological worldviews, and that we will learn to grieve the losses of the last several years—not just the people, but the relationships, the things we expected and didn’t receive.

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Alumni Updates The Reverend Amber Tremblett (MDiv, 2021)

in-Charge of the Parish of Lake Melville. In March 2022, I was ordained a priest in my home church in Lewisporte, NL and became Priest-in-Charge.

Q: Where has life, work, ministry taken you since Wycliffe?

Q: What was the pandemic’s impact on your church?

A: I’ve gotten married.

Not once but twice— the first time during COVID, then this past June we celebrated our first-year anniversary with a renewal of vows and reception. At the end of August 2021, I was ordained a Deacon in the Diocese of Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, and then immediately after we moved to Happy Valley – Goose Bay, Labrador, where I became Deacon-

A: You know, it was interesting starting ministry at the tail-end of COVID because I didn’t get to witness the before and after in my parish. What I have gathered is that connection is really the thing that has most suffered—all types of connection. Connection within our church community, connection with our wider community, and connection with God. COVID also changed routine. Whether someone attends church or not has a lot to do with habit.

During the pandemic these habits, these rituals, were interrupted and, in a lot of cases, replaced

with new ones. In our church this has shown up in attendance levels, giving, and in our parishioners’ willingness to serve.

Q: What are you most hopeful about as you look to the future?

A: Right now, I have a Confirmation Class of nine people, which is a lot for our Parish.

We haven’t been able to offer Confirmation for several years, obviously, so it’s an exciting time. On a wider scale, I think we are at such a pivotal moment in the church as a whole. There is an opportunity, as we come out the other side of this pandemic, to re-evaluate what church is about. Many of our walls have either fallen or been destroyed for various reasons. We have the chance to look at the foundation that is left and maybe build something stronger. That makes me hopeful.

Graduate students welcome new AD Study Lounge Anyone who has embarked on a graduate degree program (“Advanced Degree” or “AD” program in College jargon) knows that such study is not undertaken lightly.

Pursuing a PhD, ThD, ThM, or DMin is a big commitment, one that can lead to years of increased isolation.

“Graduate study, by its nature, can be very isolating,” says Patrick Mentzer, former coordinator with the Wycliffe Graduate Society, now in his fourth year of working toward a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Old Testament. “You’re doing a deep dive into a subject that can be hard to communicate to others.”

So when he heard about plans to repurpose a room in the College— 12

previously leased to long-time tenants— into a new AD Study Lounge, he was quick to volunteer to help make it happen.

“When I started at Wycliffe, the AD students had a study room on the first floor. It had eight study carrels in it, and if those were full, the room was just packed,” Patrick says, adding that graduate students had been petitioning the College for a bigger space for years.

He and occasional helpers invested scores of hours “gutting” the room, tearing out carpet, patching holes in walls, painting, and installing new flooring. And while the work is not yet complete, the space is already being well used by up to 14 students.

“Not everyone has a study space at home where they can focus,” he explains. “There are some students who are there every day because they need a place to work.

But more than that, it provides for a sense of community. The fact that I’m sitting across from somebody who is in the same situation that I am, who understands what I’m going through—it can be encouraging and help to keep you going. There’s a camaraderie that’s built among those who use the space regularly.”

“Knowing there were people who gave to Wycliffe, who were willing to make this kind of space possible, well, we can’t thank them enough.”

DONOR PROFILE

The road we all need to take

By Patricia Paddey

What compels someone to support Wycliffe College through their financial giving and prayer—for more than 40 years? If you’re Reverend Kenneth Turnbull (MDiv ’78) and his wife Nancy, the answer is rooted in a determination to live lives of obedience to God’s leading.

was a missionary to India then came back and became the College Dean; Oliver O’Donovan; Dr. Stackhouse was Principal. Alan Hayes was just a young professor starting out at Wycliffe.

He taught us Christian history. Other memorable professors were Maurice Flint and Richard Longenecker.”

“Before we went [to Wycliffe in 1975], we had decided that we would try to tithe,” Ken remembers. “And when we got to Wycliffe we thought ‘We’re serving the Lord and so we will tithe whatever we get.’” Ken says that God was always faithful in providing for their needs.

The couple were an integral part of the Wycliffe community during the three years of Ken’s full-time studies.

Hailing from Manitoba—where Ken had worked as a high school teacher prior to his call to ministry—they lived in the “married quarters” at the College.

Nancy was the College organist, and took several courses intended for lay leaders, getting “rave reviews” from faculty for her wit and intelligence. “My professors were very impressed with my wife,” Ken says with sincere pride, before rhyming off the names of faculty who similarly impressed the young couple.

“R.K. Harrison—I loved going to his classes in Old Testament; Dr. Jocz—he had a mystical quality when he took a service in chapel; Dean Luck—he

seven years to various communities in Newfoundland. In the mid-1980s, he and Nancy (by then with two young children) returned to their home province of Manitoba where they continued to minister until Ken retired in 2013 on his 67th birthday. As he shares memories of the congregations he served and of two inner-city Winnipeg schools founded by his final parish—St. Aidan’s—his stories are punctuated by frequent interjections of “I loved it!”

And it is clear you are talking to a man whose enthusiasm for God’s work has not wavered.

Today, he and Nancy have settled in Kelowna, B.C., where once monthly he conducts a Sunday service at a local seniors’ home and coordinates a men’s weekly Bible study. “And I love that too,” he says.

The Turnbulls’ first donation to the College came in response to an appeal while they were still just students, but their regular giving has continued ever since. They find Wycliffe’s Cycle of Prayer “really meaningful” in helping them to pray for those in the broader Wycliffe community and in “keeping connections strong.”

Ken’s 35 years of full-time ministry began as curate at St. Timothy’s in north Toronto, and then took him for

Asked for his words of encouragement for those who continue to minister to Canada’s churches he doesn’t hesitate.

“Don’t overlook personal renewal,” he says. “There’s been a lot of stress on church leaders, trying to grapple with things that for the most part they may not have been prepared for. And now the world has changed. Guard against workaholism. Keep the focus on the Lord—and you will have more hope, more joy, more love. That is the road we all need to take.”

Thank you for your generous support of Wycliffe College in 2022.

Your gifts allow us to continue providing rigorous theological education to a new generation of leaders as they respond to God’s call in their lives.

Theological education faces the challenges of a rapidly changing world, but we are reminded again this year of the support and loyalty of the Wycliffe

College community and look forward to a promising future together. We invite you to join us in prayer and through financial support, as we seek to equip students to share the Gospel at home and around the world. Online donations can be made at www.wycliffecollege.ca. Thank you for partnering with us! — Shelley D. McLagan, Director of Development 13

In a culture of unbelief, obedience

By Ephraim Radner

There has been a spate of reports on disappearing churches, waning faith, changing religious attitudes, and the ways in which COVID has affected the religious landscape. Assuming the numbers reported are accurate, the question is: Why are fewer people going to church these days?

Here, academic and amateur sociologists rush in with glee. Reasons given for the decline of Christian attendance and identification include new avenues of social connectivity (civil, digital); priority given to individual choice that runs counter to parental influence; communal mobility; the desire for inclusive values (which deem religious commitment exclusivist); emphasis on diversity (in family, race, sexual preference). Some sociologically sensitive church spokespeople say, however, that we shouldn’t worry. We’re learning to adapt! And decline is for the 14

best, because it spurs needed changes: digital worship, multi-faith teaching, getting beyond “membership,” finding faith in social justice, and personal expression.

I’m a great fan of sociology. Had I not become a theologian, it might well have been my academic field. But from a theological perspective, sociology’s value is mostly negative. When it comes to religious belief itself—let us call it “faith”—sociology has little to tell us except what it looks like when faith frays and unravels; that is, what happens when sin gets the upper hand, and Satan roams to and fro upon the earth.

Sociology does this very well, which is why religious people should pay attention, in the same way that they should pay attention to the Books of Samuel and Kings.

But what sociology cannot do is give or renew faith. It cannot even help us to recognize faith or show us how to encourage it. And for a simple reason: Faith is a gift of God, whose grace is not in our power to manipulate. We should pray for faith: “Increase our faith!” the disciples petition (Luke 17:5). “Help my unbelief!” cries out the desperate father (Mark 9:24). Sociology can only tell us that this may be a good time to pray.

(Though, perhaps, any time is a good time in this respect.)

It has always puzzled, indeed, disturbed many to see how Jesus—and before him, Isaiah, whom Jesus and Paul quote—spoke of unbelief as a divinely providential destiny at certain times: “Make the heart of this people fat, and their ears heavy, and shut their eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed”

(Isa. 6:10; Matt. 13:15; Acts 28:27). To be sure, the condition of unbelief is the product of earlier faithlessness, and to this extent is at least somewhat given over to the power of human decision.

Even so, when it comes to our collective faith as a society, we will never discover the moment of our decision-making. For now, belief is simply grace: “To you it has been given to know . . . to them not” (Matt. 13:11). Why? The sociologists cannot say.

Jesus’ point is simply that we are to seize upon the gifts of God and to let go of the incessant drive to fix everybody, including ourselves. We are not given divine gifts for the sake of reversing social trends! Unbelief reflects a lack of thanks for, and faithful receipt of, the gifts that God has given–gifts like the written Word, the testimony of the prophets and saints, the sacraments of the Church, the praise of her children, the commands of God. Sociology is perverted when it becomes a positive religious science. This happens when we get “missional” syllogisms.

Here’s a contemporary one: If people have stopped going to church because they are more at ease with screens than with people, then we need to offer them church on a screen. The idea is that if we get our sociology right, we can adapt—and then they will believe!

Or, at least, “then we will have new church members.” In this way, unhelpful arguments unfold.

But unbelief is a darkness: “Darkness cast across the peoples” (Isa. 60:2).

Canada and other countries in the West are becoming darker every day, and not only during the winter months.

Sociology tells us as much. But only the gospel can describe how “the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Matt. 4:16).

The Gospel is an “effective” instrument of faith, and it is so only in its enunciation.

“So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). The Gospel must be proclaimed, given voice. But that enunciation produces effects that no sociology could ever make sense

of. Consider the fact that the Gospel’s articulation can have the odd effect of causing unbelief. Paul’s assertion that the folly of the Cross is the Wisdom of God marks out a mystery that sociology can never penetrate (1 Cor. 1:25). Even more so does Paul’s announcement that it is just this (sociologically bizarre) divine mystery of which he is not “ashamed” (2 Tim. 1:8).

In talking about unbelief let us be guided by the Scriptures. When it comes to belief and unbelief, Jesus chooses a very unscientific approach: He speaks in “parables” (Matt. 13:34), parables that the faithless are not able to understand, while those called somehow can.

Unbelief, therefore, has a parabolic function. Faithlessness, growing and spreading in our midst, is a figure that takes us into the life of God through the breadth of the Word. For as we are thrust into an unbelieving world, we learn how divine punishment becomes, in God’s hands, a means to repentance; how rebellion becomes a place into which mercy pours; how the object of rejection is the very person of redemption. Read again the Passion of Christ and see how all around there is sin and unbelief, and yet the tremors of grace reshape the landscape and God’s conquering love drills its way to triumph.

The Christian response to unbelief is thus not to manipulate social levers in the vain hope of conjuring belief in faithless times, but rather to follow the way of Christ, the Word who speaks the world. Simple obedience marks the great enunciation and untangling of God’s parables. “I have only done my duty” (Luke 17:10), says the servant who follows history’s Master to the parable’s mysterious end, where the light outlasts and banishes the darkness altogether (John 1:5). In the face of unbelief, we are called to one thing: “Stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by letter” (2 Thess. 2:15).

The complete article, from which this is abridged, was published in First Things, August 2022, and can be found online at: https://www.firstthings.com/ 15

Share This Magazine Would you help our family grow? We are always looking to expand the reach of the College and share with others the things that God is doing through Wycliffe. If you would like additional copies of this magazine to pass along to friends who are unfamiliar with Wycliffe College, please email us at alumni@wycliffe.utoronto.ca and we will be happy to send them. Thank you.

Student/Alumni Speed Mentoring Event — February 1st On Zoom We are excited to announce our first Student/Alumni Speed Mentoring event, to be held February 1, 2023, over Zoom. In this online format, students will have the opportunity to learn from and engage with a range of Alumni mentors, to ask questions and gain valuable insights about ministry life after Wycliffe. We are looking for a variety of Alumni mentors, so if you are interested in investing a few hours in the lives of our students, please contact us at alumni@wycliffe.utoronto.ca. Thank you!

Insight EDITORIAL BOARD Connie Chan Jeffrey Hocking

The Wycliffe College Newsletter for Alumni and Friends November 2022, No. 93 ISSN 1192-2761 (Print) ISSN 2563-2892 (Online)

Connect with us:

Shelley McLagan Patricia Paddey

Justin Stratis Marion Taylor

CONTRIBUTORS

Stephen Andrews Wanda Malcolm Shelley McLagan Charles Meeks Alex Newman Isaiah Nordhagen

Shaun O’Connor Patricia Paddey Paul Patterson Ephraim Radner Amanda Ross Clayton Rowe

Melissa Stratis Amber Tremblett Yongmei Wang Mackenzie Wolf Melissa Ytsma

COMMENTS/QUESTIONS: Shelley D. McLagan Director of Development Wycliffe College 5 Hoskin Avenue, Toronto, ON M5S 1H7

Shelley.mclagan@wycliffe.utoronto.ca 416-946-3535 X 3524 www.wycliffecollege.ca

UPDATE YOUR CONTACT INFORMATION: DESIGN: wishart.net

Wycliffe College Development Office

alumni@wycliffe.utoronto.ca (416) 946–3549

FRONT COVER IMAGE:

Earlier this Fall, Wycliffe College hosted the “Memory and Hope” art exhibition in honour of the 50th Anniversary of the Toronto School of Theology. The works of 24 artists were on display in Wycliffe’s Great Hall, including the image gracing the front cover, “Breath of God, Winds of Hope” by Lynn Vissers. Lynn uses a knife, almost exclusively, to create abstract pieces of both oil and acrylic on canvas.

Says Lynn: “Art springs from the soul. [This painting is] born out of thankfulness to God for our past journey and hope in the midst of uncertainty.”